The key facts

  • The RSF-2026 list includes 33 individuals and organizations across five categories: political, security, legal, economic and social.
  • For the first time the list features US President Donald Trump; from Central Asia only Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, classified as a 'legal predator.'
  • Russia and the US are represented by four entries each; Khamenei, Maduro, Orban and Vucic have dropped off last year's list.

Who made the 2026 list

On 2 November, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its annual list of 'press freedom predators.' It contains 33 individuals and organizations, divided into five categories depending on the nature of pressure on journalists: political, security, legal, economic and social. Gazeta.uz reported this..

New names

For the first time, US President Donald Trump has been included in the list: RSF justified this by his attacks on the press in less than two years of his second term. The US, meanwhile, ranks 64th in the World Press Freedom Index. From Central Asia, the list includes only President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, placed in the 'legal predators' category — that is, those who pursue journalists through the courts. Another new entry is President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — following the arrest of journalists from the fact-checking site Matsaddash and the closure of the outlet Mada Masr.

Who dropped out and who is most widely represented

A number of names have disappeared from last year's list: Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a US strike, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is in a federal prison in the US, while Viktor Orban and Aleksandar Vucic are no longer in power. Russia and the US have the most entries — four each. On the US side, besides Trump, they are FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Elon Musk, and the companies Alphabet and Meta (one entry); on the Russian side — Vladimir Putin, Roskomnadzor, businessman Vladimir Tabak and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. Ilham Aliyev and Alexander Lukashenko are listed as 'political predators,' Recep Tayyip Erdogan is placed in the legal category, and the founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, in the economic one.

Other entries and context

The list also includes the Chinese Communist Party, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Israeli armed forces and Mexican drug cartels. According to RSF, in Mexico nearly one journalist per month has been killed by organized crime since the beginning of 2026, while China has been named the world's biggest jailer of journalists. It was noted that Argentine President Javier Milei published more than 1,600 posts against the presson X in 47 days. RSF Director-General Thibaut Brussel said the organization invents nothing — a separate profile has been prepared for each politician — and pledged to keep naming those who kill journalism.

How the list works

The list complements the annual World Press Freedom Index, which RSF publishes separately: the index assesses states as a whole, whereas the 'predators' are named individually. For readers in the region, the selection logic itself is telling: the only representative of Central Asia in 2026 is Tokayev, and not in the political but in the legal category — that is, for pressure on journalists through court proceedings.